New Book Describes Feeling of ‘Longing for Home’

Share Article

J. David Burgess and Ruth V. Burgess share a compelling take that both defines and redefines home. “Longing for Home” (published by Xlibris) captures the challenges when the Burgess family left the comfort and safety of Bluegrass Road. This narrative shows how one family faced the thrills, homesickness pangs, cultural miscues, traumas and joys of this life and the life to come.

“Longing for Home” is a life story where the bird of adventure takes the Burgess family to face prejudice (for being Americans), danger (the Irish-British upheaval, the Israel-Palestinian conflicts and the bombing of Libya by Pres. Reagan), as well as coping with the many forms of cultural dissonance.

Extraordinary challenges await those who seek inter-cultural experiences. Subsequently, the reality of longing for home takes many guises. Is home an ancient or a contemporary place? Does home become an illusion as one ponders the significance of modernity and a possibility of eternity? Perhaps, like Odyssey in Greek mythology, one must meet the threats of the trip, all the while yearning to return home. From these acts of bravery emerges a satisfaction equivalent to grasping a holy grail. All these insights and more await readers inside this book.

About the Authors
Justin David Burgess, the youngest of four brothers and a twin sister, is known for his creativity and adaptability. He received a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri in 1996 and earned a master’s of divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2001. He earned his doctor of ministry degree from Columbia Theological Seminary in 2013. The school honored Dave with the Nelson Award for his final project, “A Violent Wind: Discovering God’s Story in the Midst of Our Storm.”

Ruth Vassar Burgess, now a professor emeritus from Missouri State University, devotes her time to preserving family heritage and to the dissemination of the theory of structural cognitive modifiability and its applications. Among her publications are “Spirited Sisters” (Xlibris Press, 2014), “Changing Brain Structure through Cross-Cultural Learning,” “The Life of Reuven Feuerstein” (Mellen Press, 2008) and “Reuven Feuerstein: Propelling the Change, Promoting Continuity” (chapter 1 in Experience in Mediated Learning: An Impact of Feuertein's Theory in Education and Psychology, Elsevier Science, 2000). Additional insights relating to Dr. Stan Burgess and Dr. Ruth can be found in their festschrift “Children of the Calling” (Wipf and Stock, 2014).

Xlibris Publishing, an Author Solutions, LLC imprint, is a self-publishing services provider created in 1997 by authors, for authors. By focusing on the needs of creative writers and artists and adopting the latest print-on-demand publishing technology and strategies, we provide expert publishing services with direct and personal access to quality publication in hardcover, trade paperback, custom leather-bound and full-color formats. To date, Xlibris has helped to publish more than 60,000 titles. For more information, visit xlibris.com or call 1-888-795-4274 to receive a free publishing guide. Follow us @XlibrisPub on Twitter for the latest news.